Multi Media Resources

Johnmarshall Reeve (2005) presented a talk at the 2005 Conference of the Iowa Educational Research and Evaluation Association, applying self-determination theory to increasing student motivation and engagement in the classroom. If you want to know more about how you can apply the principles of self-determination theory to your own teaching, this is your chance (opens in PDF format).

Beth Hennessey, Wellesley College, conducts research on creativity and intrinsic motivation. She filmed these video clips of a child talking about his experiences in school to illustrate motivation. In the first clip he talks about the satisfaction he gets from working hard on a project. In the second, he talks about his excitement to share his new knowledge with his family.

The Self-Determination for Texas project promotes the principles of self-determination for people with disabilities and those who support them. These principles include Freedom, Authority, Support, Responsibility and Confirmation. In this video, Ricky Broussard, who has been in institutional care for most of his life, describes what self-determination means to him: The right to have control over decision making power to live where he wants, have family and friends to visit or spend the night, choose what he wants to eat and hire and fire the people that work with him (2007). The entire video runs 8 minutes, 54 seconds. Parts that illustrate the importance of autonomy occur at 2:06, 2:49, 4:50, and 6:48. (Note that you can start in the middle of a video on You Tube by adding #t=2m06s to the end of a URL. The numbers before the m specify the exact minute [2 in this example] and the numbers before the s specify the exact seconds [06 in this example] where you wish to start.)

Dan Pink, author of books about the changing world of work, gave a talk on motivation at a recent convention of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). In this video, he presents a condensed version of his talk while an artist draws amazing graphics to illustrate his ideas. The result is a stunning tour-de-force summary of about a dozen or so psychological studies on what motivates us (runs 10 minutes, 48 seconds).